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Howard, the Marquette University Golden Eagles freshman guard, scored 23 of his career and game-high 34 points in the second half of a convincing 83-61 win over the Musketeers Saturday night before a raucous BMO Harris Bradley Center crowd of 19,033.

Howard shot 9 of 12 from 3-point range, tying the program's single-game record for 3-pointers. He was 11 of 18 from the field overall.

With victory in-hand late, Howard was subbed out of the game and treated to a standing ovation from the frenzied sold-out crowd that gathered to enjoy Marquette's national school-pride celebration of which the game was the epicenter.

The loss was Xavier's third in a row and drops them to 18-9 overall and 8-6 in the Big East.

Marquette, which entered the game on the fraying edge of the NCAA Tournament discussion, improved to 16-10 and 7-7 in the league.

"Markus Howard – that's as good of a performance as I've seen from a freshman," Xavier head coach Chris Mack said afterward. "You'd like to have somebody chase him around and be able to put pressure on their ball screen offense, but we're dealing with five, six, seven players – max... He was a flamethrower. He deserves all the accolades and whatever Marquette record he broke. As I said, he was as good of a freshman as I've ever coached against in this game."

Xavier went big with its starting lineup and the change paid off, but it wasn't enough.

The team's third big, junior Sean O'Mara, scored a career and team-high 14 points.

Sophomore Kaiser Gates had 11 points.

"I love it," O'Mara said of Xavier's starting lineup. "I'm a huge fan of two bigs. I hope we do it more often... It's been working."

Gaston logged his third straight double-double in the game (10 rebounds) but was ejected in the second half after picked up his second technical foul.

Xavier had four technical fouls while Marquette picked up two of its own. Combined, the teams saw three players foul out of the tightly-officiate game.

The Musketeers' guard play was lacking. Junior J.P. Macura was just 3 of 14 from the field and freshman Quentin Goodin went scoreless in 32 minutes (0 of 7).

The guards combined for five of the Xavier's 14 turnovers.

"Our bigs played great. Our guards were irrelevant tonight," Mack said. "When you have a freshman (Howard) get 34 and then our freshman get zero and doesn't take care of the ball to start the game, there's not much else to say. I think Quentin's a much better player than he played tonight, but we need him to step up."

Marquette boasts the No. 2 offense in the Big East and showed why against Xavier. Guard Andrew Rowsey and Haanif Cheatham joined Howard in double-figure scoring with 18 and 15 points.

As a team, they hit 90 percent of their free-throws (18 of 20).

Where Xavier lost the Marquette game: A Howard-driven run

Xavier self-corrected after a disastrous opening stretch in the first half.

They picked up two technical fouls in the opening 2:01 of the contest, fell into a 19-2 chasm by the first media timeout and later fell behind by as many as 21 in the opening period.

The Musketeers pulled to within 12 points by halftime. It didn't change the reality that they would be climbing uphill all game, but they still managed to cancel out much of Marquette's momentum.

Then Xavier pumped the ball into the paint at the outset of the second half. For a few minutes, it had the sold-out arena sitting on its hands as Gaston, Jones and O'Mara finished around the rim with authority.

Howard stole back momentum, though, hitting three 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to push Marquette ahead at 53-36 by the 16:52 mark of the second half.

Xavier wouldn't get closer than 13 points the rest of the way. Marquette would later led by as many as 25 before winning by 22-point margin.

"Their point guard shot, you know, what was it – nine 3's?," O'Mara said. "That's a hell of a night for anybody regardless of who is guarding them...We've got to keep our heads up. The Big East is a tough league. They're obviously a really tough team, especially offensively.

"Good news is we've got another shot at them. They're going to be at our place."

Xavier continues Big East play Wednesday at Seton Hall. The Musketeers close out the season series with Marquette March 1 at Cintas Center.

Trevon Bluiett update

Star Xavier junior guard Trevon Bluiett missed the second game of his Musketeers career as he was sidelined against Marquette due to the ankle injury he suffered against Villanova.

Bluiett also missed Wednesday's game at Providence.

But he appears to be on the mend.

Prior to the Marquette game, Bluiett watched his teammates warmup without his walking boot. He took jump shots and looked comfortable testing the ankle.

After the game, Mack said Bluiett remains "day-to-day" and didn't comment on when the player might return to the lineup.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly noted Xavier's margin of defeat against Colorado. In fact, the final score of the Dec. 7 game was 68-66.